Almost 2.7 million checks are on the way to Virginia taxpayers with a one-time refund from a political compromise over a state windfall from federal tax reforms.
Eligible taxpayers will receive $110 if they filed individually and $220 if they filed jointly as a married couple.
The Virginia Department of Treasury began mailing checks to eligible taxpayers on Sept. 16 and expects to finish by Oct. 15.
Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne said taxpayers shouldn’t confuse the one-time payments with refunds they would be due from overpayment of income taxes on their annual tax return.
“This has nothing to do with the normal refund checks,” Layne told the House Appropriations Committee on the first day the checks went into the mail.
The Virginia Department of Taxation offers taxpayers a primer on how the state determines eligibility for a refund. The primer is online at www.tax.virginia.gov/news/2019-virginia-tax-relief-refund.
Generally, taxpayers are eligible if they filed their state income taxes by July 1 and owed at least as much in tax liability as the amount of the refund.
However, they are not eligible if they used tax credits to pay for their liability. The state also will use all or part of the refund to pay any outstanding debts, “such as unpaid Virginia state taxes or debts to local governments, courts or other state agencies.”
If taxpayers don’t receive their refunds by Oct. 15, they can call the tax department at (804) 367-8031.